Shocking Food Facts That Have Transformed the Way We Eat
Figs Are Potentially Full of Dead Bugs
Figs, believe it or not, aren’t technically a fruit. Apparently these are flowers that the wasps pollinate! Even more intriguingly, they have an unusual backstory. The figs have both female and male, so female wasps will crawl into male figs, which the folks do not eat. They will then drop their eggs, and when the larvae hatch, the wasps emerge. However, if a wasp accidentally enters a fig that is female (and there are figs that people consume as well), it will die and not be able to mate. What, then, happens to the dead wasp?
The dead wasp you were indeed most likely to step in next fig you take a gracious bite of – but hey, if you’re lucky. That may sound creepy, but you likely never have realized, even to date.
Paper Embedded in Your Shredded Cheese
Any meal is immediately better when you add shredded cheese to the mix. But it turns out there’s an unwanted ingredient on it. Cellulose is another one that comes from grated Parmesan or shredded cheese, and most people wouldn’t know what that was off the top of their head. Cellulose, a type of fiber, is found primarily in clothing and paper! This means you are eating wood pulp when you eat cheese, because cellulose is mostly made of wood.
Sounds questionable, but the researchers assure us that it is fully edible and digestible. It is meant to prevent the cheese from clumping – but this really doesn’t sound appealing 🙂
Brown Sugar Isn’t What You Think It Is
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no such thing as true brown sugar. But wait, a groundbreaking revelation; who would’ve thought, it was a marketing strategy all along? Actually, white and brown sugar are pretty much the same. Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar that still contains some molasses. Which shows that both have an equally valid nutritional basis at least at the cellular level contrary to the popular myth that one is better than another. Well, I don’t want this to discourage you from making this, but if you like brown sugar, then you are free to use it!
So next time you order a coffee and are considering brown sugar over white to give yourself a healthy edge, just keep in mind the nutritional benefits are quite minimal.
This Exotic Ingredient was previously only available to inmates.
In modern times, lobster is a fancy, luxury-type food. Not many get to have a lobster dinner because it is a costalf for restaurant. However, lobster had a lesser story before it became a fine-dine thing. It was once the main meat used to feed prisoners and servants. And that’s because lobster farming was so widespread that it became the least expensive meat anyone could procure.
But nowadays, if you visit a nice restaurant, lobster will arguably be the most expensive dish on the menu. Now, stupendously, times have changed.
This explains why some people think coriander tastes like soap.
Coriander stands out as an extremely common and widely utilised herb. You can include it with any dish to upgrade everything and include a tasty herby flavor. Well, at least for some. Well, if your receptor-gene happens to be OR6A2, coriander will taste exactly like soap to you! Yup, that’s right. Others chew down on this little green leaf, and recoil at the flavor. Basically, using this gene, coriander will smell and taste strong and rather disgusting. It’s in our DNA!
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As awful as it is for some, coriander has been used as one of the oldest herbs to be edible. So either most of the population lacks this gene, or they endure through it.
The DNA of humans and bananas is the same.
Bananas are healthy, too, providing fiber (and potassium), but they have a surprising secret. Obviously, they are a popular breakfast fruit, and they are integrated in cuisines across the globe. Only that’s not the only common thing that links people worldwide to bananas. But you would be surprise to know that human DNA shares some similarity with fruit, yes, some DNA with fruit. So yes, a banana is sixty percent similar to us when it comes to DNA!
And the next time you peel yourself a banana for breakfast, you can probably look at it a little differently – it’s basically a cousin!
Mcdonalds Fries Were Once Cooked in This Surprising Ingredient
Everyone loves the salty, greasy perfection of Mcdonald’s fries from across the globe. However, did you know that they were actually fried in beef fat until 1990? Then in an attempt to make their fried potatoes seem less unhealthy, Mcdonalds announced they would no longer fry with beef fat but rather with vegetable oil. This would not only allegedly make them healthier, but it may also appeal to a vegetarian and vegan audience now. However, up to that point, they were very much not vegan-friendly.
Fortunately, that should not be the case if you buy fries today in almost every Mcdonald’s because there shouldn’t be any beef fat. Yikes!
You Actually Don’t Need to Eat an Orange for Vitamin C
Typically, that when someone has a shortage of Vitamin C then they eat orange. But there is only one type of fruit that contains 11 times more Vitamin C than its relative, and this is a fruit that many people are not familiar with. And these just so happen to be bell peppers! To clarify, yes, bell peppers are members of the fruit family and not the vegetable kingdom. And second, they contain two or three times the amount of Vitamin C than a whole orange. Color counts in bell peppersK, but one is a real game changer.
Green bell peppers are those that are harvested early, or if left out long enough can mature to yellow, orange, and finally red. Red Bell Peppers: Red bell peppers have the longest time on the vine and thus are the most nutrient dense and vitamin C packed!
If Your Egg Floats, Beware
Now this might save a life, hear me out! But if you’ve kept a carton of eggs around for a while and are uncertain whether you should eat them or toss them in the compost, there’s a quick trick you can do at home that tells you right away. That way no one eats a rotten egg and gets sick! Just put the eggs in a bowl or cup of water. Do they float or sink?
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If they sink to the bottom they are good eggs and still able to eat!【4†source】 If they float on top of the water, get rid of those eggs because they have gone bad.
The Secret Ingredient Is Crushed Bugs
Red velvet cake is a classic. Cream cheese frosting with the red pigmented cake for decades. But very few know how the recipe transforms the cake into a shade of crimson. With red food dye, obviously, but what even is food dye? If this is your favorite cake flavor, well, we might have to break the news to you. Red food dye is be made from the main ingredient, the Carmine There may also be some nasty crawlers in carmine.
Carmine (also known as cochineal extract), a natural food dye made from ground up cochineal bugs They are tiny creatures that live inside cactus. … and the red velvet cake you like!
This Spice Can Make You Hallucinate
Nutmeg is one of the famous spices around the world. Ideal for baking and applied in cooking. Not many people realize the seemingly benign spice can actually get you super high if you eat too much of it. The reason is that nutmeg contains myristicin. It had side effects as harsh as intense hallucinations from light exposure to too much of this compound. The next time you sip on an indulgent pumpkin spice latte, should you be worried?
The way of cooking or drink will be careful next time with nutmeg. You wouldn’t want to bake one of these cakes and then all of a sudden be high with the side effects of an overdose on nutmeg.
Fruit Snacks Are Covered in This Unsavory Ingredient
Fruit snacks must have been the best tasty, staple snack for a kid. But does anyone even know what goes into fruit snacks? And if they were, you’d think they’d think twice the next time they popped a gummy in their mouth. Fruit snacks contain corn syrup, which is almost never a good thing, and gelatin, the stuff made from crushed animal bones and cartilage. And as if that weren’t bad enough, there’s another gives you a run for your money.
Another questionable ingredient is carnauba wax. Sourced from palm tree leaves and is ro use in car wax, surfboard wax, dental floss and shoe polish. Sounds yummy right?
That Berry You Love Isn’t Really a Berry
Women WeirdFood Categories You understand that tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocados are fruits not vegetables. You won’t even believe that strawberries won’t even be classified as less than the berry. But how is that even possible? Though, actually, all those seeds in a strawberry are the real fruit. This isn’t exactly glaringly obvious and violates every lesson learned about strawberries. But perhaps this one gets shelved for now, and everyone is allowed to continue to live their strawberry ignorance is bliss.
No pressure on that front; go ahead and keep claiming strawberries if that is your top berry. Bet you hardly anyone knew the truth!
Do You Really Want to Know What’s in Your Jell-O?
Jell-O might appear to be an innocent snack at first. In fact, it is provided to those who have difficulty chewing and the little ones. Its a fluffy jiggly texture no other food feels like, comes in colors. It often has a fruity flavor and is typically served cold. But what even is Jell-O? What is it made of? And before you read forward — be prepared to ruin your perception about Jell-O for good.
So, the infamous Jell-O is primarily gelatin, And what is gelatin? It’s derived from boiling animal by products, such as skin, bone and cartilage, and grinding it into a powder. Yum?
That’s Not Actually Wasabi You Are Eating
Sushi is mouth-watering, typically accompanied by a side of wasabi. It is infamous for being pretty fiery and powerful; a bit of this stuff is literally capable of setting your entire mouth ablaze if you have never tasted its heat before. But is there really any actual wasabi at all outside of the rare establishments? That’s a result of wasabi’s scarcity and high price, which makes it difficult to grow in bulk. So if its not real wasabi, then what exactly are you consuming?
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Some favourite places for serving wasabi are not serving wasabi at all. Rather, it is simply horseradish and green food coloring.
Why It’s Okay for You to Have Bad Breath
Garlic has a bad reputation. While it is famous for causing really bad breath and being used to keep vampires away it is on the other hand one of the best superfoods. Garlic is supposed to combat high cholesterol and high blood pressure: eat a lot of it! It is well known for its high content of antioxidants and nutrients, which may come as a surprise to some. You can get 2% of your daily vitamin B6 just by eating a single clove.
Little did anyone know this stinky little bulb had all these health benefits! Garlic is always usually cooked in food such as pasta or meat, but just bite into it next time!
Is It a Fruit or a Nut or Both?
So what exactly is this oddball of a fruit? Yes, it is pretty much an apple — but not an average apple. You know, the kind that grows cashews from —! Who knew that this nut grows on a tree? For real, apples grow on trees, and you can even pick the apples and eat them. They are often extremely bitter (so better to be used in cooking — chutneys, juices, or jams).
The cashew nut is the seed of this oddly-shaped apple which is grown primarily in India and the Ivory Coast, but the cashew nuts can only be harvested once a year making them fairly expensive.
Why You Should Always Check the Color of Your Egg Yolk
Now you know why your egg yolks are different colors. This cannot be just by chance, it signifies something! You can tell what diet the hen is eating (yolk color) The brighter the egg yolk, the more corn and alfalfa the hen probably eats. However, more recent, food additives can also colour the yolk like that. And if it’s darker, the possibility is that the hen has been feed supplements.
So when you go to fry an egg for breakfast next, observe the eggs you crack open. The yolk color can surely take you on some interesting journeys.
Would You Drink Potato Juice?
Kinda low-key, potatoes are probably one of the most flexible foods there ever was. That makes chicken accessible to so many people, as well because it is cheap and easy to cook. They can be made into a million and one tasty items such as fries, mashed or baked potatoes, or even just roasted. But what if you could take in potatoes as well, but in beverage form? I know this sounds a bit odd upon first hearing it, but potato juice is a thing for a reason.
Potatoes are actually eighty percent water, so, by that metric, they could be juiced! Either way, you should be serving up these carby beauts for your next meal…or smoothie.
Quail Eggs Are Better Than Chicken Eggs
Chickens eggs is so 2022. Next, its quail eggs that are in trend now. Have you ever tried them? A quail egg apparently has much more vitamins, nutrients, and protein than a chicken egg. But they are much smaller than a hen’s egg! They’re also much more costly and difficult to purchase through their not simply speary available in your local area market. There are definitely some advantages and disadvantages to making the change though.
Yet if you get the occasion to utilize quail eggs then go for it! Who knows? Discover a new favorite dish for you.
Bananas Are the Result of a Genetic Accident
Bananas — the perfect snack, and one of the most popular fruit! The quintessential on-the-go fruit, they are also delicious. However, you know that the banana is not even capable of reproducing? All bananas are, in fact, nothing but clones of each other! Which means that, in theory, a single disease could eradicate the entire banana species. Imagine a world without the delicious yellow fruit? It would be a peculiar, solitary, fruit world.
Now you should really appreciate bananas while they last because any day bananas could be extinct! Suck down on all the bananas you can before they’re all gone.
Your Favorite Soda Is Actually Not All Chemicals
We all know that soda isn’t really good for you. This fizzy beverage should not be eaten regularly because it is full of tons of additive. However, there is one ingredient in Mountain Dew that flies under the radar for most of the folks knocking back some Mt. Dew. Despite all of the artificial colors, preservatives, and buckets of high-fructose corn syrup that are made into this soda, it has some actual orange juice in it!
Who knows, maybe this helps to take out some guilt of the soda you are drinking! You could just tell people it’s primarily an orange juice, and where’s the injury with that?
Avoid Egg Yolks for This Reason
Eggs are typically the highlight and best part of breakfast. However, this delicious meal becomes a terrible idea very quickly if, like me, you have high cholesterol. The reason for this is that the yolk is where all the sodium, fat, and cholesterol are contained, as explained above. Egg yolk is out but is it an eggsact alternative? Answer (yes), egg whites, of course! That way, you can still have the best part of breakfast without fully sacrificing it.
So if you are someone on a diet, white egg is the way to go.
Contrary to popular belief, Italy is not where tomatoes originated.
Today tomatoes are one of the most popular fruits. They are available in every grocery store, eatery, and maybe even a gas station store. Tomatoes are a common ingredient in Italian cuisine but contrary to popular beliefs were not created in Italy. Although it is indeed a fruit, the tomato can be traced back to Mesoamerica. This today is the part of Mexico and South America. So now when you eat a delicious slice of tomato, you can think and know exactly from where it came.
Tomatoes are typically an animated subject, People hate them, or love them, no in-between.
Would You Eat This?
For many, mushrooms are an acquired taste. But they are one of the most exciting, fun veggies that you can put into anything to spice up the dish. And this mushroom in particular, is the fluffiest, biggest one you’ll ever see. It is a kind of puffball mushroom, present in Europe and North America. They do not possess a robust flavor as do some other mushrooms, so they are easy to work with and soak up the flavor of whatever you are cooking them in.
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For anyone who was undecided about liking or wanting to try mushrooms, this is your ideal fit. It could very well turn out to be your new favorite food.
This must be the reason pineapples were previously viewed as a luxury.
Fun fact: Pineapples used to be a delicacy. Buying one pineapple could cost another person thousands of dollars. It takes about two to three years for a pineapple to fully grow and be fit for consumption. Wait eight years for one piece of fruit — that is a very, very long time. This process has been long-winded and quite obviously a time killer, probably why they were worth loads at one point in history.
Next time you encounter a pineapple at your local supermarket or enjoy this sweet tropical fruit, think of how far it has traveled!
You’ll Never Guess What This Beauty Is
Ever seen a corn cob that resembles this? So, back in Oklahoma, a farmer decided to grow the craziest corn. It started with an idea, and he went to town. Again he hand-picked the corn seeds each year until they would grow multicolored heads when mature and fully ripened. Nobody had expected that this could happen and the corn will remain edible normally.
He succeeded after much trial and error, creating the coolest-looking corn that almost seems like marbles or glass beads.
The Same Food Will Taste Different in the Air Than It Would on Land
Our taste buds and preferences for food vary from person to person. However, when you fly in an airplane, your perspective of your food transforms! The elevation changes the way you physically taste food, which is also influenced by the wide vertical pressure on your body, compared to how you would experience it, if you had it on land. In addition to the dry cabin air sucking moisture from your sinus cavity, you have just the right recipe for flatlined taste buds.
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So that snack might be super salty while you’re up in the air, but the moment you touch down, it will taste just right.
A Superfood That Was Once Hated by All
Kale used to be a decorative, garnish item in restaurants. Pizza Hut was the largest buyer of this veggie in America, and piled up heaps of it to put pizzas on top of it for appearances. But no, kale is a superfood (1) and almost immediately people (2) came to the conclusion that it was something they should celebrate instead of ignore. These days it is such an incredible and versatile item that it is used by anyone from green juices to smoothies to health food store around the country as the nutrition aspects of it are from very far out this world.
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Packed with antioxidants and boasting high amounts of vitamins A and C, kale is both great tasting and really good for you, a kale pizza party, anyone?
The Portuguese brought these mangoes to India.
Another common ingredient found in Indian kitchens are mangoes. Available in desserts and used for millennia, they are particularly popular. However, the mangoes we tend to eat today are actually an entirely different type than what grew in India! Actually, once Portuguese colonists went to India, they found a new species. Alphonso mangoes are named after a local Portuguese viceroy at the time Alphonso de Albuquerque. These the most common commercial mango being grown today, even though non indigenous to the land.
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Who wouldn’t love mangoes, a nutrient-dense sweet fruit?! This is something that you must include in your next grocery haul as it has its unique flavor complemented with its unusual color and texture!
Can You Tell the Difference Between a Peach and Nectarine
Peaches and nectarines are cool, sweet, juicy, and a wonderful afternoon snack on a summer day. In fact, one could almost mix the two up. They are, at least, similar fruit with a skin covering. The only real difference in their DNA is the skin! Peaches have fuzz on the outside, while nectarines are fuzz-free and a little firmer to the touch. They’re basically cousin fruits. They’re both also full of health vitamins.
Do not get tricked by the sugar-sweet fruit! While they may be sweet, they are still nutritious and high in fiber.
Honey Actually Changes Color for This Surprising Reason
If honey is your jam, then this is for you. Honey never seems to go out of style, and it has a very long shelf life. But do you know why? Chances are your honey is processed! In reality, pure natural honey does change colors from season to season. If honey is produced in the summer, it might taste completely different than if it were produced in the fall. It all depends on the time of year, which flowers were pollinated, and the bees.
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Honey is a widely known taste sensation! Your honey will have one taste depending on the color;
Kidney Beans Weren’t Native to India
Rajma Chawal is a vegetarian dish that consists of red kidney beans, which are cooked in a thick gravy with very much spices and eaten with rice. In India, Nepal, Bangladesh and parts of Pakistan it is a regular part of the diet. The thing is, kidney beans are not from these shores — how did they become so integral to local cuisine? First brought to India by the Portuguese, the beans are prepared using a traditional Mexican cooking technique.
So the next time you have your fill of delicious South Asian food, you can tell folks most of its influences were from Portugal, or Mexico!
You’ll Never Look at Your Jar of Peanut Butter the Same
Everyone loves the classic spread peanut butter. A spread (which can be endlessly cooked or baked with) fit for kids to adults to dogs. It makes any snack, no matter if it is a cookie, sandwich, or even spread on an apple, instantly a whole lot better. You know peanut butter is for eating, but what if it was something else entirely unrelated to food? Take a shot in the dark, but you never ever heard of it.
Believe it or not, scientists have actually played around with creating diamonds, alternative sources — as if carbon where diamonds derive from is not abundant these days — and discovered peanut butter to be one of the materials from which they could produce diamonds! Next time you need a fresh, quirky ring this bizarre detail will help.
Chocolate Was Once Used as Currency
Chocolate is still regarded as a luxury item today, albeit not quite as much as it once was, but it is still precious. It can be gifted or a treat to bring someone up since it usually holds positive meaning. But in the old days, it was a method of trade and barter. Actually, cacao beans represented a currency among the Mayan people. It was so valuable that it could even be used for trade in commodities like tobacco, textiles, and spices.
So, some of them started being innovative and made hot chocolate or chocolate bars out of the beans and swapped them for food or clothes!
